The mechanisms by which chemical agents exert antimicrobial activity depend upon the effective contact between the chemical and the organism, and involve disruptive interactions with some biochemical or physical component of the organism, which component is essential to its structure or metabolism. The targets may be an enzyme, or enzymes, the cell membrane, an intracellular system, the cytoplasm, or any combination of these. The nature of the action of the toxicant is dependent on the organism, on the antimicrobial agent, and on the environment in which the interaction occurs. The unique composition of each toxicant implies a different mode of action.
The present invention provides superior antimicrobial activity through a synergy in which the disruptive interaction on the organism by the two toxicants together is greater than the sum of both toxicants taken alone. The synergy does not arise from the expected activity of the components or from a predictable improvement in activity. In all cases, the synergism depends largely on the interactions of the antimicrobial agents with the organism. The cellular processes are so complex as to render such synergism an unpredictable, and indeed rare, phenomenon.